Katoli World, Taiwan

I thought I would break out of the abandoned residential mould and look at something inspired by Miyazaki’s Oscar winning ‘Spirited Away’.

Those who have seen it will know that the family stumbles across an old theme park at the start of the movie, one that was built in the eighties but has since lost popularity and been abandoned. Well this is a usual occurence in Asia, one can find many amusement parks that have been left to rust. Here is just one of them, though one that was forced to close for something other than financial loss.Katoli World is situated in the Dakeng Scenic area just outside of Taichung, Taiwan. Opened in the mid eighties, it enjoyed moderate success as one of the few theme parks on the island of Taiwan to host a rollercoaster (two). The park was closed after a massive earthquake on September 21st, 1999.

Thousands of people were killed during the quake but nobody inside the park as it struck after opening hours. Large areas of the park were destroyed and it was forced to close. A place once vivid with young laughter is now slowly turning to rust.